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Saturday, July 10, 2010

Jouques

Another weekend, another village to visit in the Luberon Valley. This time it was Jouques. It's a hard life, but someone has to do it.

Signs of human life from 11,000 years BC have been found in the immediate Jouques area, and the village also saw plenty of action in the Roman and Medieval ages.

We arrived a little late for the markets (one in the afternoon), but took a stroll along the Réal river that runs alongside the newer part of the ville.

After lunch the mister supervised the kids playing around the fountain while I hauled myself up the hill into the older part of the village.

The narrow streets on the way were of course gorgeous. Being Sunday, the day when most French like to sit down to a large family lunch, these alleys were full of delicious smells and rowdy family sounds.

Past these streets I found the more medieval part of town and, thankfully, a sign pointing to the Notre Dame de la Roque chapel, which I was looking for.

Unfortunately the chapel wasn't open, but it was still worth exploring the exterior.

And the view down over the town was fantastic.

Somewhere down there is a fountain with my kids in it.

One of the great things about blogging is that it forces you to do some research instead of sitting around drinking wine all day. A bit of googling revealed the chapel was built in the 11th century, but unfortunately the interwebs couldn't tell me what the inscription on the steps means. It shall remain a mystery.

Another great afternoon spent exploring southern France and we all returned home more wise and sunburnt than when we left.

Finished the weekend with a little bit more sewing - piecing together the log cabin triangles and then cutting the result to size. Now, what to do with the off cuts.